Method for handling blisters or the like



Sept. 8, 1970 J. D. BAMBARA METHOD FOR HANDLING BLISTERS OR THE LIKE 2 Sheets-Sheet l FiledApril 4, 1968 am E INVFT v JOHN 2. 019145924 BY Aim/Wm Sept. 8, 1970 J. D. BAMBARA 3,527,368

METHOD FOR HANDLING BLISTERS OR THE LIKE Filed April 4, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 J .D 319M545"? W 2 Aim 98 6b i T q 7 INVENTOR.

United States Patent US. Cl. 214-152 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A pickup carrier plug type apparatus for use in handling and destacking blisters that are used in the packaging industry. When a pickup carrier with a plug type face plate is brought into engagement with a packaging blister a vacuum is caused to be developed between the side walls of the blister and the face plate of the plug whereby the blister is pulled into engagement with the face plate and caused to adhere thereto. In removing the blister from the pickup carrier the vacuum is terminated and air is allowed to seep into the area between the walls of the blister and the face plate of the vacuum plug thereby causing the blister to be released from the face plate.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION The present invention relates to a blister removing apparatus for use in the packaging and merchandising art. More particularly the invention involves handling packaging cards, blisters, or the like by a vacuum operated pick up carrier type plug for engaging and disengaging blisters.

It is frequently necessary to handle many different sizes and configurations of blisters, but conventional apparatus has proved inadequate for handling blisters with deep indentations and multiple blisters when stacked together. This invention allows for a unique plug type pickup carrier that has a face plate that can be easily interchanged with other parts for handling a wide range of packaging blisters. In the past, conventional handling apparatus for cards and blisters has been restricted to a suction cup for removing packaging blister but such suction cups are not capable of removing packaging blisters with deep indentations nor capable of removing blisters stacked together due to the inherent characteristics of the blisters for adhering to each other.

Heretofore various devices have been advanced for performing this type of operation, however, they have all been limited in applicability and type of items that might be handled. In particular, the industry has experienced difficulty when it is necessary to remove blisters of the same type but of different depths of indentation. While a shallow type blister might be removable, difficulty has been experienced when removing the deep type of blister due to the additional compensation which must be provided in order to avoid interference with the storage chutes and the adhering characteristics of many blisters when stacked together.

Blister packaging is becoming increasingly popular as a means for merchandising products, for it affords both protection and ease of visibility of the contents therein. Despite the popularity of this type of merchandising, relatively little has been done to automate the handling and processing of blisters. This invention provides a method of operation and pickup carrier apparatus that allow ease of handling blisters of different size and depths of indentation as well as many blisters stacked together.

STATEMENT OF INVENTION It is the object of the present invention to provide a new ice and improved method and apparatus for handling packaging blisters or the like.

It is also an object of this invention to provide a novel pickup carrier employing a vacuum type face plate plug wherein a blister or the like may be easily destacked and moved from one reference plane to another reference plane.

It is a further object of the present invention to pro vide a vacuum face plate plug for removing various types and sizes of blisters from a storage position by causing the blisters to adhere to the sides of the plug face plate.

It is also a further object of this invention to provide a method of operation for removing and handling various packaging material such as cards or blisters from a storage position by causing a vacuum to be developed and terminated between the face plate of a plug and the walls of the blister.

In accordance with this invention, a pickup carrier such as one with a vacuum operating head is caused to engage a packaging blister in such a manner as to cause the blister to move with the pickup carrier. The carrier pickup operating head comprises a face plate plug which allows a blister of even extreme depth of indentation to be freely removed from a storage area, A vacuum is created between the side walls of a packaging blister and the face plate of the pickup carrier plug whereby the blister is pulled into contact with the face plate. When the blister is to be released the vacuum between the face plate and the blister side walls is terminated and the blister side walls are released from contact with the face plate.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of this invention will be readily appreciated as the same becomes better understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein like reference numerals designate similar parts throughout the figures thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a destacking machine for removing blisters by use of the preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 shows an elevational view of a part of the blister handling apparatus employing the pickup carrier with a face plate plug in accordance with this invention.

FIG. 3 shows an enlarged perspective View in part of the vacuum pickup carrier and blister.

FIG. 4 shows a diagrammatic view partly in section showing the vacuum pickup carrier removing a blister from the magazine.

FIG. 5 depicts a motion diagram showing several positions of the blister during a blister handling cycle.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings and in particular to FIG. 1, a destacking and blister handling machine is generally shown at 12 for removing cards, blisters or the like 14 from a storage magazine 16. In this apparatus the size, shape, depth and form of the blister is determined by the product to be packaged. Magazine 16 is provided with several chutes 18 for feeding blisters or the like into the machine. The blisters 14 are removed from the chutes by pickup vacuum carrier 20 and then rotated about main shaft 22 by carriage arms 24 and 25 so as to be in a position to deposit the blister 14 on a conveyor belt or assembly line 26.

Machine 12 also includes a source of power and timing circuit together with a pump and hydraulic system which is generally indicated at 28 and is mounted on the main frame 30 of the destacking and blister handling apparatus. It is to be appreciated that the apparatus of 28 is conventional and that a variety of other apparatus could also be employed. For this reason apparatus 28 has not been shown in detail.

, Turning now to FIG. 2 it can be seen that the pickup carrier 20 is mounted on a carriage bar 32 by means of an adjustable mounting block 34 and a pickup carrier rod 36. Pickup rod 36 may be adjusted in length by nuts 38 and 40. While a mechanical arrangement has been shown for connecting the pickup head 20 to carriage bar 32, it is also feasible and highly desirable in some applica tions of this invention to employ an hydraulically actuated piston operating from the hydraulic system 28.

Also shown in FIG. 2 is the air cylinder 42 attached to frame 30. Cylinder 42 is then connected to shaft 22 by means of yoke-type piston arm 46 and link arm 48 thereby imparting reciprocating motion to shaft 22. Shaft 22 is mounted on frame 30' by brackets not shown.

The carriage bar 32 shown with pickup vacuum carrier 20 and face plate 78 are mounted so as to rotate about shaft 22 and a movable guide block 52 as seen in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4. Guide block 52 is connected to the carriage bar 32 by means of guide rod 54 which is attached to carriage bar 32 by pin 56 extending through carriage arm 25. Also at the other end of carriage bar 32 pin 57 attaches carriage arm 24 to the bar, thereby allowing carriage bar 32 to pivot about arms 24 and 25.

In operation, once pickup vacuum carrier 20 engages a blister, guide rod 54 slides within an opening in guide block 52 so as to cause carriage bar 32 to also rotate about guide block 52. As shown in FIG. 2, guide block 52 is fixedly attached to shaft 60 which extends through an eccentric opening in hub 64 connected to driven gear 62. A snap ring at the free end of shaft 60 retains gear 62 with respect to the shaft. Hub 64 is pivotally mounted in frame 30. With this arrangement shaft 60- causes guide block 52 to move in an eccentric path about an axis passing through the center of hub 64 when the latter is rotated. It should be readily appreciated that a variety of clutch devices could also be employed to attach guide block 52 to hub 64 so long as a predetermined throw can be obtained and wherein the throw can be selected to enable the maximum degree of eccentricity to be obtained.

Gear 62 which causes hub 64 to rotate is driven by gear 70, which in turn, is actuated by geared lever arm 72 (FIG. 2). Sector gear 72 is driven by the same shaft 22 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 that carries carriage arms 24 and 25 and has a radius of arc movement of approximately 60. It should now become readily apparent that the rotation of shaft 22 will cause the rotation of hub 64 by virtue of the mechanical linkage of driver gear 62, gear 70 and sector gear 72. It should also be appreciated that the diameter of the respective gears will vary the degree of rotation of the related parts. In this invention gears 62, 70 and 72 are associated so that a 60 arc of rotation by sector gear 72 will cause a 300 arc of rotation for gear 62 and hub 64.

An example of the eccentricity path provided by this invention is more clearly shown in FIG. 5. Here in FIG. a motion diagram is shown for 3 positions during a cycle of operation for moving and handling packaging blisters. As shown in FIG. 5, the position indicated by a indicates the relative position of the shaft 60 and carriage arm 25. In position a blister 12 is being picked up by the carrier head 20. This can be more clearly seen in detail in FIG. 4. In position b shaft 60 has revolved counterclockwise through part of its cycle causing carriage arm 25 to rotate counterclockwise and thereby causing the carriage bar 32 together with pickup carrier head 20 and blister 14 to move away from storage magazine 16. At this stage of the cycle, carriage bar 32 is moving counterclockwise in the same direction as key 60 and arm 25. In position 0 shaft 60 has completed its counterclockwise revolution as had carriage arm 25 and carriage bar 32 has moved to a position in which pickup carrier head 20 can deposit blister 14.

After depositing blister 14, piston arm 46 completes a second stroke which causes the various parts of the machine to move back to their original position whereby pickup carrier 20- is returned to its initial position ready to engage another blister.

The operation of the assembly line and eccentric movement of the vacuum pickup carrier 20 is synchronized so as to assure synchronous operation of the respective elements. Of course, it is to be appreciated that it would also be possible to synchronize multiple vaccum pickup carriers 20 to operate at the same time.

Mounting block 34 can be positioned at various points along the length of carriage bar 32 by adjusting the setting of an adjusting bolt and moving the vacuum pickup head to a new position.

In the operation of this invention, a vacuum-type pickup carrier 20 as depicted in FIGS. 3 and 4 has been used. This pickup carriage head has been machined or molded to conform to the configuration of blister 14 whereby a front face plate plug 78 has been designed to conform to the indentation configuration or walls 15 of blister 14. Pickup carrier 20 also comprises a back plate 80 with a resilient rubber gasket means '82 interdisposed between back plate 80 and the front face plate plug 78. Also located along the edges of front face plate plug 78 are air intake openings 84 which connect with a main chamber 86, which, in turn, is connected to a threaded neck piece 88. Neck piece 88 is connected by a flexible hose line 90 to a vacuum manifold which, in turn, is connected to the hydraulic system 28.

In the operation of this blister handling machine, a pickup carrier 20 with a face plate plug designed to substantially conform to the indentation of a blister 14 is initially positioned adjacent and in front of an opening of a chute 18, magazine 16. Upon the initial movement of piston arm 46 and lever arm 72, the pickup carrier is then brought into a resting engagement with the indentation of blister 14. Faces 78a of face plate plug 78 are adapted to mate contiguously with surfaces 15a of the blister. Faces 7 8b of the plug are formed to provide a clearance with respect to surfaces 15b of the blister. A vacuum manifold is synchronized to operate, thereby causing air between faces 78b of face plate plug 78 and surfaces 15b of the blister to be removed through air intake openings 84 in faces 78b. The openings are connected to chamber 86 and line 90. This causes a vacuum to develop between faces 78b and surfaces 15b of the blister so that surfaces 15b are pulled toward faces 78b. As a result, the blister is distorted inwardly along surfaces 15b while surfaces 15a remain substantially undistorted against faces 78a. The distortion of the blister enables the atmosphere to vent into the area between adjacent blisters so that the blister in engagement with plug 78 can be removed without moving the next blister.

As piston arm 46 and lever arm 72 continue in their respective movement carriage bar 32 upon which the pickup vacuum carrier 20 is attached is caused to move in an arc controllable by guide block 52. Initially the pickup carrier moves away from the point at which it engaged blister 14. By a proper choice of rod lengths and eccentric key positioning, once the pickup carrier 20 engages blister 14 it can be removed from chute :18 past the flexible retaining clip 96. As discussed above, the inward pulling of surfaces 15b toward the face place plug 78 of the pickup carrier enables air to seep into the space previously occu pied by the walls of the blister and thereby breaks the seal between the blisters themselves that often occurs when blisters are stacked together.

As piston arm 46 continues its initial stroke and lever arm 72 continues through its rotational path, guide block 52 works fully around the rim of eccentric key 60 thereby communicating an arcuate but eccentric motion to guide block 52. Guide rod 54 which controls the movement of carrriage bar 32 has its movement controlled by guide block 52. Guide rods 54 being freely movable in guide block 52, describes a path of movement for carriage bar 32 that causes a rotational are about a longitudinal axis that passes through pins 56 and 57, whereby when piston arm 46 has completed its first stroke carriage bar 32 has moved first counterclockwise and then clockwise to a position wherein pickup vacuum carrier 20 may release and deposit blister 14. At this point in the blister handling operation a blister 1 4 has been removed from a plane passing through the front of the storage container and deposited in another plane passing through the work position while the eccentric movement has operated in a single plane passing through the end of the machine.

After passing through a cycle of operation so that the pickup carriage is rotated in a depositing position as shown in FIG. 5, the vacuum between front plate plug 78 and blister surfaces 15b is terminated whereby the blister 14 is released from face plate 78. Air can then leak into the space between the face plate 78 and faces 15b of blister 14, breaking the seal, and cause blister 15 to be deposited on assembly line 26.

In operation, the eccentric movement as shown in FIG. causes the effective length of guide rod 54 to be constantly changed, with the range of variation being controlled by the throw of the eccentric.

Further, by varying the distance of the eccentric shaft 60 from its geometrical center and thus varying the throw of the eccentric key and further by adjusting the length of the pickup rod 36, the pickup carrier can be operated and rotated in a plurality of ditferent paths of movement relative to the magazine 16. By adjusting mounting block 34 the vacuum pickup carriage can also be adjusted to operate on a plurality of different chutes, thus providing an extremely flexible handling apparatus with large capability for operation.

Although the above-described apparatus and method have been illustrated in their use as means for handling blisters, it is to be understood that the pickup carrier can be used to transfer other articles such as cards or the like from a storage position to a work or utilizing position.

Obviously many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachmgs.

What I claim is:

1. A method of removing a blister from a storage chute containing a stack of packaging blisters by means of a pickup vacuum carrier comprising the steps of:

(a) advancing the pickup vacuum carrier into the open portion of the end blister on the storage chute containing the stack of packaging blisters;

(b) engaging the edge portion of the end blister with the pickup vacuum carrier to efiect a sealing relation therebetween, the edge portion being defined as that surface facing outwardly from and furthest removed from the base of the blister;

(c) applying a vacuum between the sealing engagement of the pickup vacuum carrier to the blister and the side wall of the blister adjacent thereto in order to cause distortion of the blister in the sealed area adjacent the edge portion inwardly and away from the adjacent blister on the storage chute; and

(d) moving the pickup vacuum carrier to remove the packaging blister from the stack of blisters in the storage container.

2. A method in accordance with claim 1 in which the step of engaging the edge portion of the end blister includes engaging oppositely disposed edge portions of the blister with the pickup vacuum carrier to effect a sealing relation at each of the oppositely disposed edge portions.

3. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein the step of advancing the pickup vacuum carrier into the open portion of the end blister includes engaging the face of the pickup vacuum carrier with the base of the end blister and the step of engaging the edge portion of the end blister ineludes engaging the entire periphery of the end blister with the pickup vacuum carrier.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,090,523 5/1963 Packman 22l-36 3,415,388 10/1968 Hornlein. 3,322,301 5/1967 Bliss 221-36 X 3,275,189 9/ 1966 Goldsborough 294-64 X FOREIGN PATENTS 234,385 11/1959 Australia. 1,001,890 8/1965 Great Britain.

GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner G. F. ABRAHAM, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

